Sunday, June 30, 2013

Does Kerry Realize That Abbas and the Palestinian Arabs Have No Interest In a Peace Agreement With Israel?

The growing resentment about Abbas's autocratic regime and refusal to share powers and plans with other Palestinians cast doubt on his ability to win the support of a majority of Palestinians for resuming peace talks, let alone signing a peace treaty with Israel.

Abbas's autocratic rule and the frustration of many Palestinians do not seem to bother Kerry.Khaled Abu Toameh

Indeed, Toameh describes how Abbas has followed in the footsteps of his mentor, Yasir Arafat, in accumulating power:

Abbas is not only President of "Palestine" (in the 9th year of his 4 year term) -- he is also head of the PLO, President of the Palestinian Authority, head of Fatah, and commander of the Palestinian Authority security forces.

In addition, since the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Palestinian parliament, has been paralyzed after the Hamas coup in 2007, Abbas has been issuing his own laws.

The PLO Executive Committee and the Fatah Central Committee are dominated by un-elected Abbas loyalists.

Abbas does not consult with the PLO's Negotiations Department, which is supposed to be in charge of the peace talks with Israel.

Abbas, according to Sufyan Abu Zayda, a senior representative of Abbas's Fatah faction, has also appointed himself as the chief judge and prosecutor.

Perhaps the despotic rule of the Abbas regime does not bother Kerry because he figures that with all that power concentrated in one person, it will be easy to get the Arab side to sign onto a peace accord once Abbas rubber-stamps it.

The problem with that is the resentment towards Abbas's autocratic regime and the doubt as to whether Abbas can actually win the support of a majority of Arabs to even resume peace talks -- let alone sign a peace treaty with Israel.

Even putting aside disenchantment with Abbas, there has been no education towards Arabs making pace with Israel, rather the opposite. And the US watches on, silent.

So now we have Kerry, doing everything he can to get both sides to sign a piece of paper claiming there will be peace, when it is clear that Abbas does not want peace, does not want to be party to a peace agreement and through his incitement of hatred against Israel has seen to it that not many other Arabs are eager to be party to a peace agreement with Israel either.

None of these realities will stop Kerry.

Abu Toameh notes that Abbas is aware of that and has taken action accordingly:

Unlike Kerry, Abbas is fully aware of the increased criticism at home -- and why Abbas is now telling his people that if and when he resumes peace talks with Israel, it will be only because the U.S. has exerted immense pressure on him.

We can only hope that has Kerry rushes onward into the abyss, he does not take Israel with him.

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About Me

When I am not blogging at Daled Amos, I am sharing articles and the great posts of others on my account on Google Plus.

I write about the Middle East in general and about Israel in particular -- especially about issues affecting Israel in the Middle East and how Israel is impacted by policy in the current Obama administration.